Hitherto, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2014-113893, there is known a bumper structure for absorbing shock caused when an object collides against a front end (or a rear end) of a vehicle during travel of the vehicle. The bumper structure includes a pair of right and left side members formed to extend in a vehicle front-and-rear direction, and a bumper reinforcement formed to extend in a vehicle width direction in front of (or behind) the side members. The length of this bumper reinforcement is set larger than an interval between the right and left side members. That is, a right end portion of the bumper reinforcement is located on a right side with respect to the right side member. On the other hand, a left end portion of the bumper reinforcement is located on a left side with respect to the left side member. Projecting members are fixed to rear surfaces of the right end portion and the left end portion of the bumper reinforcement, respectively. Further, projecting members are also fixed to a left surface of the left side member and a right surface of the right side member, respectively,
When the object collides into a small region of the vehicle on one end side in the vehicle width direction (for example, a part in a range from a portion located in front of (or behind) the side member to one end of the vehicle in the vehicle width direction) from the front side (or the rear side) (hereinafter referred to as small overlap collision), a distal end portion of the side member is compressed in a longitudinal direction. Then, the projecting member of the bumper reinforcement and the projecting member of the side member are brought into abutment against each other. An inclined surface is formed on a front end surface of the projecting member of the side member. The inclined surface is pressed by the projecting member of the bumper reinforcement so that a load, which is applied inward in the vehicle width direction, acts on the side member. Then, the distal end portion of the side member is bent inward in the vehicle width direction to be brought into abutment against a power unit (engine, transmission, or the like). Further, the power unit is pressed by the side member. With this, a vehicle body is moved in the vehicle width direction. That is, a vehicle cabin can be moved away from the object.
In the above-mentioned related-art vehicle, in order to cope with the small overlap collision, the length of the bumper reinforcement is set larger than the interval between the right and left side members. In general, the bumper reinforcement is formed to be curved in conformity with a shape of a decorative member (bumper cover) arranged on a front end portion (or a rear end portion) of the vehicle. For example, the bumper reinforcement is formed by extruding a metal material, and bending an intermediate body formed straight. However, it is difficult to significantly and locally bend the right and left end portions of the bumper reinforcement. Therefore, a shape of the bumper cover needs to be determined in consideration of a shape of the right and left end portions of the bumper reinforcement. That is, the degree of freedom is low in designing the front end portion (or the rear end portion) of the vehicle.
Further, the projecting member of the above-mentioned related-art bumper reinforcement is made of metal, and is formed into a block shape (solid). Therefore, the weight of the right and left end portions of the front end portion (rear end portion) of the vehicle is large. Consequently, the steering stability of the vehicle may be degraded.